Cumulonimbus mammatus clouds fly over Little Manitou Lake and Manitou Beach in Saskatchewan, known for its big skies and sweeping landscapes. (Julia Pelish/Vacay.ca)
Photo by Julia Pelish
Vacay.ca Visuals Editor
MANITOU BEACH, SASKATCHEWAN — I visited Manitou Beach and stayed at Manitou Springs Hotel and Mineral Spa last summer where my bedroom window opened up to a lovely view of Little Manitou Lake. On the day I took this picture, the weather had put on a show. Thunderstorms and dark clouds rolled in during the late afternoon, which gave way to a rainbow that spanned the lake and as evening descended these unique cumulonimbus mammatus clouds blanketed the landscape. Of course I had to take a shot, landscapes being one of my favourite photographic indulgences. Saskatchewan is filled with memorable skies such as this.
Recently I experienced a thunderstorm in Toronto and for the second time I noticed these unusual shaped clouds in the sky after the storm. Quite a few people were out taking photos of them too. As quickly as they appeared they seemed to dissipate. The second sighting prompted me to do a Google search for “cloud formations” so I could identify and discover what these cloud formations indicate. I learned they occur during violent weather conditions, they vary in size, and the clouds can be composed of liquid, ice, or a combination of both.
The word mammatus comes from the Latin “mamma” meaning breast and refers to the pouch-like shape similar to a cow’s udder. Mammatus clouds form on the base of the thunderstorm’s anvil clouds. After the ice sacks vaporize they are gone.
This photo was taken with a Nikon D7000, at ISO 400, f13 (for large depth of field) at 1/40th of a second.
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